May is new beginning for gardens

Bing Carbone

Published 12:52 pm, Thursday, May 8, 2014

Give me just one month out of the year to truly savor, and the month of May wins hands down. This is the month we've waited for since putting our gardens to rest last fall, and it's a time of year that brings unyielding rejuvenation and anticipation of yet another gardening season.

And that truly is the message here; it is a brand-new season.

Forget (but remember and learn from) any mistakes you made last year. This year your gardens are going to grow better, your flowers will blossom more brilliantly, your harvest of vegetables is bound to be more bountiful and the trials you experience in this year's garden will prove to make your gardens even finer in years to come.

With the coming of each new season we watch as our gardens become fuller, more lush and mature. I remember how sparse and dull-appearing my perennial garden looked that first year after planting. So many of the plants were started from seed, and their size couldn't come close to matching the one- and two-gallon containers in which most perennials are sold.

Years later I was welcomed to this garden with an ever-changing display of color, foliage, shrubbery and increasingly larger and more beautiful ornamental trees. From early spring, when the first snowdrops appear, all the way through early winter when the late-blooming witch-hazel gleefully and sometimes reluctantly puts forth its blossoms, this garden is never short on interest or color.

I recall with great fondness the way my grandfather Maiden loved his garden and yard, and I'd often catch him doing his "strutting" (as we would call it). He'd walk slowly, hands behind his back and not saying too much, but really looking and appreciating the plants that were growing around the home he lived in all his life.

We'd yell out to him, "What are you doing?" To which he'd reply, "Nothing, just looking."

I think I'll do some looking and a bit of strutting of my own. This month of May is a fine time to do just that.

Growing giant-size leeks

The leek seedlings that have been hardening off in the cold frame for the last two weeks look like mere whispers of fine grass. Given the proper start in the garden, in some six months from now they'll have grown as large as a baseball bat and nearly as thick.

Since it is the fleshy white stems that are sweetest part of the plant, the trick here is in the blanching procedure. The leeks are set into a deep trench that has been filed with compost and 10-10-10 fertilizer. They are then planted 12 inches apart and given a drink of liquid fertilizer.

As the plants begin to grow and thicken, soil is gradually added to the trench, covering the leek stems. This soil blanching process will continue throughout the summer months, along with periodic granular fertilizer feedings. Leeks like plenty of water and are rarely bothered by insects or disease.

By late October when the chill in the air returns once again, it will be the craving for a dish of warm leek and potato soup that will force me to do some harvesting of this delicately flavored vegetable.

Hilling potatoes

The crop of potatoes that were planted early in April are now ready for their first hilling of soil in May. The foliage is tall enough now and I want to be sure that there is plenty of soil (and darkness) covering the young potatoes forming on the roots.

If these potatoes are exposed to sunlight, they will turn green and can in fact produce a poisonous substance called solanine in their skins.

This is a rather simple process easily accomplished with a large hoe. Before I draw up the soil, however, I like to side dress each side of the trench with a scattering of 5-10-10 fertilizer. This concentration helps encourage the large meaty potatoes I hope to harvest in midsummer.

Kohlrabi an easy crop

My grandparents always grew this odd vegetable and wouldn't consider chicken soup complete without a few kohlrabi tossed in and allowed to slowly cook.

Kohlrabi's mild, sweet taste is a mix of turnip and cabbage.

Store-bought kohlrabi is often sold overgrown, dried out and quite pithy looking. This is a fast-growing vegetable that must be harvested young -- perhaps no larger than a silver dollar size.

Seed is best sown directly in the garden and later thinned out three to four inches apart. I rely on biweekly liquid feedings of 20-20-20 to keep them growing fast.

Kohlrabi does not keep particularly well, staying fresh only a week in the refrigerator. A single 10-foot row will provide more than enough of this tasty crop that can be eaten while it is still garden fresh.

Sure-fire Magnolia

Want a really nice specimen flowering tree for your yard? Perhaps something that is quite different from your neighbors? Then search no further because you might just find what you're looking for with Ricki. Ricki is a spring-flowering cross between a star magnolia (Magnolia Kobus stellata) and lily magnolia (M. liliflora). It is one of several related cultivars collectively known as "The Eight Little Girls, developed by geneticists at the U.S. National Arboretum.

Bearing women's names such as "Ann," "Betty" and "Ricki", these magnificent hybrid trees were created with the idea of making a good thing better. All of these cultivars combine the best traits of its parents: attractive growth habits, prolific flowers, fine fragrance, and mildew resistance.

What I really like about all of these magnolias is that they are a nice size for a home garden, perhaps as part of a perennial bed planting. The growth habit of Ricki, while definitely tree shaped (10-15 feet high), is multi-stemmed, and can appear almost shrub-like.

The deep magenta colored flowers are simply incredible, but here is the real gift from this tree; unlike other magnolia flowers that are highly susceptible to damage from cold spring weather, Ricki blossoms later in the season. Cold snaps rarely get a chance to affect the flowers on this tree, so the display is simply startling.

Local nurseries that carry broad selections of premium stock plants will be familiar with this variety. Go see its flowers even if you don't purchase the tree (but bring your checkbook just in case!).

Q.: I was told that the miniature sunflowers I grow as an annual in my garden, have completely inedible seeds. She said that this particular variety of sunflower is strictly ornamental, and that the seeds cannot be consumed. Is this correct? W. Scott, Oxford

A.: No, it is not correct. All sunflowers, regardless of size, variety, or color are some variety of Helianthus annuus, and have edible seeds. It is true that certain varieties of sunflower are preferred for specific uses; eating seeds, oil-producing seeds, birdseed food, and so forth, but all of them are fine to eat.

Q.: My asparagus this year is producing very thin spears this spring instead of the typical thick spears I am used to harvesting. The bed is about eight years old, I feed it regularly and have never had this problem before. Would you have any clue as to what is going on? Y. Bradson, Trumbull

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A.: The most likely cause of thin spears is prolonged cutting (harvesting) the previous year. Asparagus roots require a tremendous amount of "rebuilding" in order to produce stalks for harvesting the following season. As hard as might be, you really have to set a cutoff date for yourself as to when you are going to pick that final asparagus stalk; for me, it is June 1st and not a day after.